Mark Sanchez talked yesterday about his need to hide his emotions better when things are going badly.
There was the New York Jets rookie quarterback sitting on the sideline bench with his head in his hands at times Sunday, and his eyes wide and appearing glazed during others after throwing five interceptions against Buffalo.
"The demeanor stuff is important to me because that's not the way you want to act on the field," Sanchez said Wednesday. "Obviously, very disappointed visibly, but that's not what this team needs."
Sanchez realizes he needs to work on controlling his emotions, and not show that he's upset and frustrated. Otherwise, he said, his opponents will know they've gotten the better of him.
"I might as well have had a sandwich board sign," Sanchez said. "That's not good. You can't do that."
I think this is a decent point. I mean the quarterback is the leader of the team. Everybody looks to him when things are bad, and it's demoralizing to see the leader like that.
I'm not sure this thinking is totally right. The quarterback shouldn't try to hide it when he's down. He can't get down. Even when things are going poorly, he needs to be confident he can turn things around. It's more about making everybody else feel good in the darkest hour, not about avoiding bad feelings. If the quarterback doesn't stay up and truly believe things will turn around no matter what, how can he get his teammates to do so.
Are you concerned at all over what you saw from Sanchez on the sidelines Sunday?